Cucarachas, Tatántulas, Serpientes - Viaje a Iquitos

This past weekend I traveled with the four other Holy Cross students to Iquitos, the largest city in the rainforest in Peru. It was certainly an adventure! The only logical way to get to Iquitos is by planes, and out flight was on Thursday afternoon so we arrived in Iquitos around 7pm Thursday evening. The city itself was pretty nice; it was pretty small and relaxed and everyone drives around in moto-taxis and mopeds. As soon as we got there we spent the rest of the night finding a guide and tour agency, finding a hostel for the night, and grabbing something to eat.

On Friday the adventure began. We met our guide Timo at 9am and took off in boat down the Amazon river to start our 3-day, 2-night tour. It was so cool to be on the Amazon river, and it was so wide! Our first stop was a little village on the bank of the river where we saw a little lagoon full of alligators! We got to feed all the allilgators dead fish, and we were able to get very close to them. Thank God there was a little fence in between! In another little lagoon we got to feed these huge fish called Paiche, which were probably four or five feet long and are an endagered species. Later, we made our second stop along the river to an animal refuge area, mainly for monkeys. As soon as we got off the boat a bunch of friendly monkeys started running towards us! I have never gotten so close to monkeys as I was there, and I even got to hold a few of them. They were so cute and we spent a while playing with the monkeys and observing in awe how many different kinds there were.

Con mi amigo el mono

After the monkeys we continued out journey in the boat, but not without problems. The branch of the river that we had taken ended up being pretty shallow because the dry season just ended in Iquitos, and our guides, the boys in our group, and some of the local people all ended up have to stand in the river and push the boat! At one point, we had to empty our backpacks and food supplies out of the boat to carry along the shore and then we had to get into a local family´s boat to make it out of the shallow branch of river. Eventually our boat made it and we switched back to our original boat and continued on to our lodge. Our lodge was located on a branch of the Amazon river called Yanayacu.

Once we got settled and enjoyed a lunch of fresh catfish we headed back out to the Amazon river to visit a native tribe called Yaguas. Although the tribe clearly had modified it´s way of making money towards tourists, it´s basic way of life remained the same. The tribe consists of only about 45 people and speaks mainly Yaguas with a little Spanish. We met some of the children and their pet monkey and then got a demonstration of how the chief uses a huge dart gun to catch their dinner. We shopped a little perusing their hand-made goods and ended the visit with a tribal dance around the fire stones. We ended the day with dinner back in our lodge, a night-time boat trip to hear the sounds of the jungle and look for alligators, and bedtime in our bungalows since there was no electricity and therefore no lights!

Una niña del tribu Yaguas

The next day we started out early with a nature walk into the jungle. Along the way we saw some very interesting nature. Once in a while our guide would warn us - ¨Don´t touch that tree, it´s poisoness!¨ Then he would poke the tree with his machete and some liquid would dribble down it. He told us that some of the local people use the liquid on their darts when hunting. We continued on the hike until suddenly our guide jumped back in shock! What originally looked like a stick in our path turned out to be a poisonous snake! Timo told us about how he has seen people get bitten from these snakes and start bleeding out of their eyes before they die! After that we all looked around carefully before every step we took. We got to see the biggest tree in the jungle called the Lupuna, or Ceiba petandra, which is by far the biggest tree I could ever imagine. We also tried a rope swing from a vine hanging for one of the big trees.

El grupo en frente del árbol Lupuna

After our hike we decided to cool off by swimming in the river, trying not to think about the fact that there were pirhanas swimming with us at the bottom. After lounging on the hammocks that afternoon we took a boatride in a downpour of rain up the river for about twenty minutes until we got to Timo's village. We got to meet Timo's family and see the simple village with little houses, a primary school , and a meeting house centered around a soccer field. The village is called Yanayacu, after the river, and it had about 100 people in it. It seemed so interesting how cut off this community was from the outside world. The first language of the majority of the people in the village is Quechua, although most speak spanish too. It seemed like a very simple life of farming and spending time with family. As we were about to leave the village we ran into Timo's cousin who was carrying an anaconda which he had just caught the day before! We all got to take turns holding the anaconda. Since snakes are probably my least favorite animal, it definitely took some convincing for me to hold the snake!

Con la anaconda!

Our adventure didn't end yet on Saturday. When we returned back to the bungalows we ate alligator for dinner, which I ended up really liking and which tasted like a mix of chicken and fish. Our guide also pointed out a tarantula crawling along the pathway outside! Peter, Jen, and I found multiple cockroaches crawling around the room - even one on Jen's suitcase! After examining the situation and noticing there were cockroaches in every part of the room, we decided it would be better to sleep in Meredith and Meg's room since they hadn't found any insects. We ended up smooshing all five of us full-grown students into two beds pushed together!
On Sunday morning we got up early to head out to go fishing - piranha fishing! Although I came close to catching a few, Jen and Peter had a little more success and actually got to catch some. We ended up eating turtle for lunch that day, which was a challenge for me because I could see the poor little shell on my plate. After lunch we set off in boat to return to Iquitos for our evening flight back to Lima, stopping to watch the Amazon dolphins along the way.

The boat ride was an experience in itself. We watched as some storm clouds slowly approached us, and it started to rain harder and harder. We were in a little metal boat with a small covering over it, probably only big enough to hold ten people. The storm got worse and worse, and at one point we could see lighting blots hitting the earth in front of us, behind us, and on both sides of us! The fact that we were in a small metal boat in the middle of the huge Amazon river during this lighting storm made the experience one of the scariest in my life. We ended up almost deciding to pull the boat over, but then we realized that the only option for where we could pull over the boat was an extremelly poor area. As soon as the people who lived there saw our boat of tourists approaching, they started getting closer with big grins on their faces. We knew at that moment we had to decide if we wanted to risk it and continue going in the storm or stop on this shore and be robbed! We decided to keep going, and by some miracle we arrived safe and sound in Iquitos in time to grab dinner before our flight home.

All in all the trip was an experience! It was the most adventurous trip I have ever taken, and although at times I felt a little bit in danger, in the end everything was fine and we all get to look back on some very interesting memories!

~Michelle

Anochecer en una rama del río Amazona

Voluntariado - La mejor parte de cada semana

The most meaningful time I have spent in Peru has been volunteering in La Posadita and in the Hospital del Niño. I have been working through a program called Aprendo Contigo which has locations in 4 health care centers throughout Lima. The purpose of the organization is to provide education for the children even though they are ill and cannot attend a normal school.

Every Thursday I go to La Posadita del Buen Pastor, a home where child carriers of HIV live and go to school. Most of the children either have parents who have died of AIDs or who cannot support them anymore. I go in the afternoon and assist a professor in teaching two classes of children, the first with kids about 7 to 10 years old, and the second with kids from about 10 to 13 years old. It is so humbling to see the hope and spirit of the children. Every time I walk into the room they are full of energy and excited to learn and play games. One of the girls, Lucía, was really curious about learning English and wanted me to spend extra time with her helping with her English homework and teaching her new words. Despite the fact that they are carriers of a very serious virus and that they lack families, the kids appear to be living a normal and very happy life and don´t ever pity themselves. Instead, they are more interested in learning and having fun - what a lesson for all of us who are fortunate enough to have our health.

Las niñas en La Posadita después del show de teatro

I spend the majority of my volunteer time in el Hopital del Niño, which is a huge public hospital for about 700 children. There are children in the hospital from all over Peru, since most families come to Lima to receive better medical care. In the hospital, the program Aprendo Contigo can only support the education needs of 100 children. Even though we only teach 100 of the 700 children, it is a struggle every day to make time for everyone. The number of daily volunteers ranges from 2 to about 12, and even the ratio of 12 volunteers to 100 children makes it a stretch to cover everyone. The program teaches in Infectology, General Medicine D, Neumology, and Hematology. I generally find myself in the General Medicine area or lately Neumology. Our daily task is to deliver the homework to the kids and help them with it. We usually go through one reading and answer questions and then do a sheet of math homework, depending on the level and age of the patient. I am lucky to work on Fridays, because after homework we get to play some games with the kids like puzzles or bingo.

Sometime going through the homework with the kids is a struggle for me too, since there are always some words that I do not know in Spanish! One day I was working on a reading with a girl in neumology named Josselyn and after finishing the reading we both looked at each other and laughed after admitting that neither of us had understood what we just read! We started to read it again, making sure that she understood the content and that I understood the language. Sometimes the kids cannot physically write since their hands are attached to an IV or have wounds or are paralyzed, so in these cases I have to physically go through the questions with the kids and write their responses. One girl who I spent some time with in General Medicine is 16 years old and her name is Lady. She has a variety of illnesses, has lost mobility of most of her body, and has open wounds on her skull. Seeing her for the first time strikes a pain of pity, but after getting to know her and seeing her hope and happy attitude it´s easy to focus less on her illness and more on her wonderful personality.

As I have been getting more and more comfortable working in the hospital, I have been really getting used to working in the room for neumology. The room that I usually work in has children and babies with lung problems. Most of them have tumors in their lungs or some other type of problem that requires surgery. It is very sad to see the kids painfully going through physicial therapy, coughing up saliva in the middle of working on homework, and having to take in oxygen from a machine.

One girl in particular who I have gotten to know well in Neumology is Josselyn. She is fifteen and is in the hospital for a very serious episode of cancer in her lungs, and she has been there since I first started working in the hospital. I have now worked with her for about 5 different weeks, and each time she becomes more and more friendly with me. When I first met her she was a little hesitant towards me because I am quite clearly a foreigner and am far from perfect at Spanish, but each time she has warmed up to me and she now looks excited when she sees me enter the room each week. She makes earrings from her hospital bed so I bought a pair in exchange for bringing a new pair for her and I´ve gotten to know a little more about her life and her family each time I see her. Although it is extremelly painful to see someone I have grown close with so sick, it is also so nice to have met such an inspiration as Josselyn. She is always mature and always willing to talk and laugh, and when I leave the room and take a look back to see her waving goodbye each day it puts a smile on my face.

Con Josselyn en el Hospital del Niño

As of now, my experience working with the kids has been more than anything a learning experience for me, an introduction to some really great people, and an experience to open my eyes to how the many opportunities I have been blessed with - most importantly my health. I really think I have found my passion, the one thing that really sticks out above all the busyness of my daily life here and gives me a feeling of tranquility.

Cuídate,

Michelle

Semana de Examenes

Since I returned from Trujillo two Monday´s ago, September 28th, I´ve been pretty busy with schoolwork preparing for midterms. I had a lot of work to finish up for my photography class, since I had my written exam last week and I also had to prepare a notebook with all of my photos and excercises from the semester. This week I had my exam for Peruvian Social Reality, and this coming week I have my exam for Spanish. It´s nice to be basically done with midterms and I am planning on just relaxing and enjoying my weekend!

Two weeks ago, the week that we returned from Trujillo, the HC girls, our friend Guillermo, and I got together to watch the movie Máncora, which is a fairly recent Peruvian film. It was really cool to see the movie because a lot of the scenes took place in familiar places in Lima and a lot of the scenes portrayed certain things specific to Peruvian culture and language. On that Friday, Meredith and I decided to stay in for the night to finally get some homework done because we knew we would have a busy day on Saturday.

On Saturday, I went into school early to finish up printing some photos for my midterm and then in the afternoon Guillermo´s family invited us over for lunch. All of the Holy Cross girls and all of the girls who live in my house went to his house and his mom cooked us a feast! It included a bunch of my favorite Peruvian foods: causa, ceviche, ají de gallina, and more. When we thought we we couldn´t possibly eat more, his mom brought out deserts and cake! I felt like I had just eaten Thanksgiving dinner but it was all so tasty and it was so nice of his family to have us all over. On Saturday night we all met up with Fernando, Juan Pa, and some other friends to go to a Peña. A Peña is a place that is kind of like a discoteca and a show combined. Everyone gets to dance and in between you go back to your table and watch the show. There is a live band that plays typical música criolla like Afro-peruvian music. In the middle of the show, some of our friend tricked Meredith, Ana Maria, and I into voluteering to go up onto the stage when they asked if there were any foreigners there. We ended up each having to go in the middle of the dance floor alone, answer questions, and then dance by ourselves while everyone was watching! It was one of the most embarrasing things I´ve ever had to do, but it certainly made for an interesting night!

Besides just studying for exams, last week I got to go see a few different performances. On Monday night Meg, Guillermo, and I went to a modern dance show that was recommended by Meg´s Modern Dance class teacher. I have never seen this type of dance, but the show was a very interesting portrayal of feminism. On Wednesday, I went to an improv show which was really funny. I was a little nervous before going that I wouldn´t be able to understand enough of such a fast-speaking comedy, but I understood enough to really enjoy the show which is a good sign! On Friday we went to a show by the Afro-peruvian music group Peru Negro. The performance was a mix of Afro-peruvian singing and dance, and it really amazes me at how the dancers can move their bodies in so many ways! I have been taking an Afro-Peruvian dance class every Thursday and it certainly has been a challenge!

This past Saturday, I invited Meredith and my friend from photography class Karen to come with me to an event at one of my volunteer sights. At the shelter for children with HIV, there was a theater performance that a bunch of the kids that I work with had been planning for a while. It was so cute to see them all perform their little skits and they were all dressed up in costumes. After, Karen, Meredith, and I went back to our favorite Gastronomic Festival to share a wonderful lunch of ceviche, pollo enrollado, and sopa seca. On Saturday night, we went to Meg and Jen´s house for a mini-fiesta because Jen has a friend from the US visiting and after we went out to a discoteca called Drama.

I spent the days Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday preparing for and taking my Peruvian Social Reality and Ecology midterms. I was so happy to finally be finished and to be able to relax on Tuesday. We had another movie night on Tuesday and I went to the movies on Wednesday in Lince. Since the department of General Studies (where I have Ecology and Social Reality) does not have classes this week due to midterms, I was able to go into the hospital to volunteer this morning as well as tomorrow. I absolutely love working at the hospital, and I am going to write more about the hospital in my next entry.

Thats all for now! This weekend should be fun since I don´t have a lot of homework. We are planning on going to the market Gamarra on Saturday which is a huge market with tons of items for very low prices. Of course we will be well-accompanied by our male Peruvian friends, because it´s smart to go to Gamarra with someone who knows what they are doing since it is not in the best area.

Nos vemos!
Michelle

El show de Peru Negro

Los niños en su show de teatro

Después del show


Meredith y Karen en el festival gastronómico

Nuestra familia celebrando el cumpleaños de Mari Luki

Viaje Número 2 - Trujillo

Our second weekend trip, which we took this past weekend, was off to Trujillo. Trujillo is a big city about 9 hours north of Lima by bus. It is also on the coast. Although the overnight busride on Friday was long, we all rested and were ready to go when we arrived on Saturday morning. I took the bus with Peter, Megan, and our Peruvian friend Rumi, and we met up with Jen and Meredith in Trujillo.

Instead of choosing a hostal in Trujillo, we went to the small beach town right next to Trujillo called Huanchaco. Huanchaco was a cool little surfing town with hostals, markets, restaurants, and of course, the beach. After we dropped our bags off in the hostal we walked up to see the old church on top of the hill and then returned to Trujillo to start a tour. The tour started in a restaurant for lunch, where I enjoyed a plate of ceviche and we watched a show of the dance marinera, which is the typical dance of Trujillo.

La ciudad de Huanchaco

El templo de Arco Iris

Las ruinas de Chan Chan

After we went with our tour guide to the Chimú temple called Arco Iris. We then went to see the Chimú ruins of Chan Chan, which was a city made out of adobe for the Chimú culture. The Chimú culture existed between the years 1200 and 1500, coming before and then alongside the years of the Incas. The city was really amazing, as it is fascinating to get a glimpse of what life was like in that time. That night we had dinner near the Plaza de Armas, watched a little bit of a performance for the Spring Festival, and went out to dance.

On Sunday we decided to stay in Huanchaco and try surfing! It was my first time ever trying, but it was so much fun! Our two instructors were so nice and instead of the original plan of a an hour and a half lesson, we were out there for three or four hours. Although I was pretty tired by the end of the day, I loved trying to surf and I was able to stand up on the board a few times. The waves were not too huge and were very long, which was perfect for learning. We all agreed that we definitely want to try surfing again sometime in Lima.

Con nuestros wetsuits antes de surf!

After surfing, we grabbed some dinner and headed back to the bus station to take the overnight bus back to Lima. Although the bus arrived late and I was late for class, it was definitely worth it. All in all the trip was pretty relaxing, and a fun break from normal life in Lima to see some interesting ruins and to get some sun.

Caballitos en la playa de Huanchaco